How China is bypassing cargo chokepoints to speed up Africa trade
- New rail-sea hybrid transport options stretching from western China as far as Europe are speeding up goods movement to Africa
- New routes imply the belt and road plan is working, and are also in line with China’s aim of boosting exports from less-developed western region
The city of Chengdu in southwestern China opened the Chengdu-Europe-Africa rail-sea transport line this month to move freight to Morocco via the German port of Hamburg, as the North African nation emerges as the centre for tripartite trade.
The train, carrying mostly textiles from Chengdu, will arrive in Hamburg via the China-Europe Railway Express. The goods will then travel by sea to its final destination, Morocco’s Port of Casablanca.
The journey will take an estimated 35 days. The new line is expected to help companies in western China export goods to Africa as part of Beijing’s strategy to increase exports from the western provinces, which are less developed than coastal regions.
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Morocco is a strategic location because of its proximity to Europe and the Middle East.
John Calabrese, head of the Middle East-Asia Project at American University in Washington, said it was notable that the new line ended in Casablanca since “China has worked assiduously to woo Morocco in recent years”.